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Friday, March 28, 2014

Morrison: Cook County GOP, time to rest petty distractions

Every two years the Cook County Republican Central Committee meets to elect a Chairman to both represent the township and ward organizations within the county and to run the day to day operations of the Cook County GOP. And every two years the sitting Chairman is attacked by individuals inside the party that would like to see their candidate hold the position. We have seen many good leaders donate their time, money, and efforts toward rebuilding the Cook County Republican party. We’ve seen initiatives and growth opportunities that have been proposed and committed to die off before they bear fruit. Every two years our time is spent fighting one another rather than focusing on the job at hand: defeating the Democrats.

What makes this worse is that much like a State Representative race the campaigning never stops. A group of committeemen unhappy with the results of the Chairman’s race immediately begin the process of undermining the sitting chairman. This includes boycotting committeeman meetings, ripping fellow Republicans in the media, and encouraging donors not to donate to the county party. We should take a lesson from one of our party’s founding father, President Abraham Lincoln, and understand that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand."

There should be no confusion on this matter. This is not an issue of conservatives vs. moderates. This is not an issue of North vs. South, or City vs. Suburbs. A group of individuals headed by Ms. Gerson, Mr. Boulton, and various others over the years have attacked nearly every chairman from Maureen Murphy to Lee Roupas to Aaron Del Mar and those in between. Unlike other regional fights that take place from time to time, this has never been an issue of conservative principle but rather an effort to grab control of the party to appease their own selfish agenda and to settle personal vendettas. They have now focused their attacks on [Cook County GOP Chairman] Aaron Del Mar.

Those that are making these attacks, as coordinated by Mr. Cleveland, would rather destroy the party from within than support someone that they cannot control. Almost every chairman elected has offered an olive branch to these individuals and attempted to work with them, only to learn that they use their inside position to deliberately weaken the Chairman’s position. While Chairman Del Mar was working to make sure the party was prepared for our upcoming primary elections, Mr. Cleveland was working behind the scenes, with his disgruntled few. His efforts were not put toward helping republican candidates but rather focused on grabbing control of the Cook County Chairmanship. His goal is not to work collaboratively to grow the party but rather to use the position as a means of self promotion. This type of behavior has gone on for too long in this party. We cannot have committeemen fighting over scraps instead of working together to attain something meaningful. It is this type of behavior that has set us back for too long and allowed democrats to run roughshod over the Republican Party and our voters.

The Cook County Republican Party has not been a strong organization for decades, but this problem was not created by Chairman Del Mar. A leader is only as good as the individuals he leads. Despite some committeemen working against him, Chairman Del Mar has worked hard to rebuild the party with the help of the vast majority of his Committeemen. His Committeemen’s Support Program has provided resources to our local organizations while also asking for accountability and better performance. He has coordinated efforts to expand our voter outreach, election judge programs and voter integrity efforts. He continues to work hard to ensure that the Cook County Republican Party becomes relevant again. I believe wholeheartedly based upon my business experience that no successful organization could possibly be run effectively without some type of continuity of leadership. We cannot have turnover every two years intermixed with insurgency efforts and expect successful outcomes. Until we stop the infighting and focus on helping Republican candidates win races we will continue to lose. We must bring the fight to our true enemy, the tax and spend Democrats that are running our state and this county into the ground.

Chairman Del Mar has worked with many people, generous of their time and money to lead our county organization’s efforts in rebuilding the party. We must look in the mirror and decide if we are better off enabling a self-serving coup or standing together to ensure that we elect a leader that will make sure that we properly coordinate our efforts to elect more Republicans to office.

Now is the time to put to rest these petty distractions, and get back to the work of electing a Republican Governor and other Republican candidates in November.

Comments

Every two years the Cook County Republican Central Committee meets to elect a Chairman to both represent the township and ward organizations within the county and to run the day to day operations of the Cook County GOP. And every two years the sitting Chairman is attacked by individuals inside the party that would like to see their candidate hold the position. We have seen many good leaders donate their time, money, and efforts toward rebuilding the Cook County Republican party. We’ve seen initiatives and growth opportunities that have been proposed and committed to die off before they bear fruit. Every two years our time is spent fighting one another rather than focusing on the job at hand: defeating the Democrats.

What makes this worse is that much like a State Representative race the campaigning never stops. A group of committeemen unhappy with the results of the Chairman’s race immediately begin the process of undermining the sitting chairman. This includes boycotting committeeman meetings, ripping fellow Republicans in the media, and encouraging donors not to donate to the county party. We should take a lesson from one of our party’s founding father, President Abraham Lincoln, and understand that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand."